8th Grade Florida History
Miami during the Civil War- 1861-1865
Essential Question
1. What was life like for the all of the settlers in Miami during the Civil War?
2. How were the African American slaves and free men feeling about the war and Florida’s part in the war?
Miami during the Civil War- 1861-1865
Florida Literacy Standards Alignment:
LAFS.68.WHST.3.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
LAFS.68.RH.1.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
NGSSS -Social Science Standards Alignment:
SS.8.A.5.7 Examine key events and peoples in Florida history as each impacts this era of American history.
SS.8.A.4.11Examine the aspects of slave culture including plantation life, resistance efforts, and the role of the slaves' spiritual system.
Topic: Miami during the Civil War- 1861-1865
Essential Question
What was life like for the all of the settlers in Miami during the Civil War?
How were the African American slaves and free men feeling about the war and Florida’s part in the war?
Learning Goals
1. The students will be able to understand the events surrounding an assigned time in history.
2. The students will be able to explain the effects of the Civil War on African American woman in Miami.
3. The students will be able to explain how the Civil War affected the settlers in Miami.
Overview
Students will develop a deeper understanding and knowledge of historical events of the Civil War and the city of Miami’s connection to the time period.
Background Information
The fight over slavery began on April 11, 1861 the first battle of the Civil War began. Florida stood with the South in opposition to the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln and seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861. The primary impact of the Civil War on South Floridians was from the Union blockade of Confederate coasts. Union leadership in the form of General Winfield Scott devised a blockade plan to choke the flow of supplies into southern ports and divide the Confederacy via the Mississippi. Union leaders wanted to stop the flow of supplies from Florida to Confederate forces. They also wanted to stop Florida from sending cotton to Europe in exchange for weapons. So the Union Navy began a blockadeof Florida ports. Although the lights at Jupiter and Cape Florida lighthouses were extinguished to hinder the blockade, settlers on the mainland were cut off from the rest of the world. Key West was a principal base of operations for the blockade.
Materials
· Excerpt from Tequesta Magazine article about Mrs. Eveline Wagner of Miami
· “Ain’t I A Woman” by Sojourner Truth
· The petition of Anna M. J. Kingsley, widow of Zephaniah Kingsley.
· KWL – graphic organizer
Activity Sequence
Introduction (3 minutes)
1. The teacher will ask the students to take one minute to write use the KWL chart to write about what they Know about what life was like for the various settlers of Miami during the Civil War. (1 minute)
2. The teacher will call on a 2-3 students to discuss what they wrote and engage students in the topic. (2 minutes)
3. The teacher will ask the students to take one minute to write use the KWL chart to write about what they Want to know about the Civil War and Settlers in Miami. (1 minute)
Activity (15 minutes)
· The teacher will provide resources of the time period that give a glimpse of three African American Women in the Civil War South. (1 minute)
· Teacher will divide students into small groups (3-5 students) and assign each group a different article.(1 minute)
· Students will work in groups to discuss the African American Woman that they read about in the article. ( 3 minutes)
· The teacher will re-group the students making sure that each group consists of at least one student to represent each African American Woman studied. (1 minute)
· Students will work together to discuss what life may have been like for Eveline Wagner of Miami at the time of the Civil War based on the content of background knowledge they received from the articles and the class discussion.(3 minutes)
· Individually the students will write a letter as “Mrs.Eveline Wagner” to her friend back home in South Carolina explaining her reactions to the start of the Civil War and express her opinion as a woman of mixed race. The students must include evidence to support their portrayal of her and her description of events that are happening around her at the time. They should also convey what she thinks about her future and the future of her family. (6 minutes)
Closure (2 minutes)
Take two minutes to complete you KWL chart and answer the following questions - Based on what we have read and learned, What do you think life was like for the all of the settlers in Miami during the Civil War? What were the African American slaves and free men feeling about the war and Florida’s part in the war?
Optional Extension Activities
Students could analyze the political cartoon of Scott’s Great Snake and use the worksheet to read and pull meaning from the depiction.
References for links
View of the original Kingsley Will with transcript
https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/178006?id=1
Cape Florida Lighthouse
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/geo-flor/46.htm
Depiction of Life in Miami during the Civil War
http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1993/93_1_03.pdf
Collection of articles about the blockades during the Civil War
http://www.historymiami.org/files/resources/update-v13-n3.pdf
History collection of Miami during the Civil War
http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/civil-war-and-reconstruction/
******Excerpt from*******
Tequesta Magazine article
about Mrs. Eveline Wagner of Miami
Source: http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1993/93_1_03.pdf
The petition of Anna M. J. Kingsley, widow of Zephaniah Kingsley.
Background
Zephaniah Kingsley was both a defender of slavery (albeit the system practiced under Spanish rule) as well as an aggressive activist for the legal rights of free blacks.
Born in Bristol, England in 1765, Kingsley moved to Charleston, South Carolina, which was then a British colony, in 1770. By the 1790s, Zephaniah was active in maritime commerce, including slave trading. He spent time in London, Denmark, and Charleston. In 1803, Kingsley became a citizen of Spanish Florida and began purchasing land in Northeast Florida. He owned four plantations by 1811.
In Havana, Cuba in 1806, Kingsley purchased a teenager from the Jolof region of Senegal in West Africa named Anta Majigeen Ndiaye, whom he then freed and made his wife: Anna Kingsley.
When the United States assumed control of Florida from Spain in 1821, it agreed to honor the rights of the territory's free blacks. Over the next three decades, however, state and local laws and customs slowly eroded the rights of these U.S. citizens. By the 1840s and 1850s, many free blacks, including many who were born free, were forced into slavery.
By the end of his life, Zephaniah was embittered by the racial discrimination practiced in Florida's antebellum society and became concerned over the fate of his wife and children.
The Will
Through the terms of his will, Kingsley sought to ensure the freedom and financial well-being of the children he had by various women (slave and free) as well as his wife, Anna. In 1835, fearing for the safety of his wife and children in Florida, Kingsley made preparations to send his family to Haiti. By 1838, Anna and her children were Haitian residents.
In the will, he recommended to his executors that the slave families he owned not be separated without their consent, that his slaves be given the privilege of buying their freedom at one half their value, and that they be given ample opportunity to go to Haiti if they could not remain free in Florida.
Kingsley enjoined his "natural and colored children" to keep a legally executed will at all times in order to direct the disposal of their goods in the event of death, "until they remove themselves and properties to some land of liberty and equal rights, where the conditions of society are governed by some law less absurd than that of color. " Ultimately, Kingsley's will was upheld, but the estate was considerably depleted in the meantime by poor administration.
Petition Contesting the Will
Following Kingsley's death in 1843, many of his relatives contested the legality of the will. One such petition was filed on November 30, 1844. Kingsley was infamous within Florida's antebellum society for many reasons, most notably for his marriage to African-born Anna Madgigene Jai. In his attempt to provide for his dependents, several of whom were people of color, Kingsley flouted the racial norms of his day. His behavior brought on bitter complaints from relatives, who challenged the will when it was probated in Jacksonville.
Among the petitioners to the will was Anna McNeill Whistler, Martha McNeill's daughter. Anna McNeill Whistler was the mother of the artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler and subject of his famous portrait.
Executor's Response to the Petition
Executors of the will were Kingsley B. Gibbs, George Kingsley, and Benjamin A. Putnam. Their response to the petition by Kingsley's family, on behalf of Anna Kingsley, was dated September 5, 1846. As a consequence, Kingsley's wives and children were slow to receive their shares of the estate.
Anna Jai Kingsley persisted in her demands to secure her share and those of her children, returning in 1846 to Duval County from Haiti in order to eliminate the tremendous problem of distance. In 1847, she finally received $2,000.00 from Gibbs and Putnam under order of the Duval County probate court.
Source: Florida Memory Library and Archives https://www.floridamemory.com/collections/kingsley/
K- Know / W- Want to Know / L- LearnedPicture of the first page of the original Kingsley Will
Transcript
I, Zephaniah Kingsley of Duval County, East Florida, Planter, being of sound mind, memory and understanding, do make and publish this my last will and testament as follows, viz: First~ I will and devise that all my just and lawful, funeral and testamentary changes, and expenses shall be fully paid and discharged, as soon as may be after my death.Secondly~ To my nephew Kingsley B. Gibbs I will and devise one half of my two thousand acre tract of lands in the Twelve Mile Swamp which when di- vided into two parts will give one thousand acres of land for his one half be the same more or less, to him his heirs or assign: I also bequeath to him in fee my Schooner North Carolina with all its appointments, likewise my books and arms not otherwise dis- posed of:Third~ To my nephew George Cooper Gibbs I will and bequeath in fee simple, abso- lute all the remaining one half of the aforementioned two thousand acre tract in twelve mile swamp, which will be one thousand acres be the same more or less.Fourthly~ To my nephew Charles J. McNeil I will and bequeath in fee simple abso- lute, a certain tract or parcel of Lands situate on Beauclerc’s Bluff, between Cohen & Curry containing sixty-two and one half acres of Land be the same more or less; Also my three hundred acre tract situate at the head of six mile creek (Saw Mill Creek) flat also my negro woman Betsey and Peggy the daughter of Nancy and all their children and issue: Also one of my horse saddles & c. at his choice all the above to him in fee & to his heirs & c. Fifth~ To George Kingsley my son by Anna Madgigaine Jai Kingsley I will and bequeath all my nautical in- struments including maps, charts, &c. to be sent out to him at Hayti by way of New York or otherwise clear of expense to him.Sixth~ It is my will and desire, that as soon after my decease as is con- venient to my Executors, that all the specific legacies and devises afore- said shall be separately set-apart-and reserved, by my Executors for the special purpose aforesaid and that all the remaining part of my property real and personal, including what sums may be received from Government in compensation of losses in 1812 or 13, or since of what-nature or kind soever after the payment of my just debts: Shall by my Executors, or their assigns, be sold or converted into money, and the net amount be divided in twelve equal parts or shares (12 parts) or shares, one of which part shall be paid to my nephew Kingsley B. Gibbs in full compensation for all claims that he may have or devise against my Estate. One part (say 1/12th) shall be paid to Anna Madegine Jai Kingsley or to her heirs or assigns.
View of the complete original Kingsley Will with transcript
https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/178006?id=1
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCES